Day 15 Red centre trip. Strangways Bore to Breakfast time creek

4th August

Day 15 -361km

Strangways Bore to Breakfast time creek camp (between Leigh Creek and Parachilna)

Our first detour for the morning was at Beresford Siding, where we stopped to check out the camping around the large dam, wondering if we would have had a night full of mosquito bites if we had stayed there. There were lots of noisy birds in the trees, jostling for the top branch. The Beresford siding boasts a kennicott water softener (desalinator) as well as a water tank. We will need to look up how they work when we get home. There is a lot of space to camp here, but we have the impression that you would rarely have the whole place to yourself.

As we had both travelled up the track just recently we didn't do so many detours. The next stop was after the Lake Eyre South viewing area, but just before the Borefield Rd that goes out to Roxby Downs. Here we found an attractive pull off beside the creek with lots of shade from a beautiful big gum tree and views of a distant railway bridge across the road and down a little. Craig went for a walk and pronounced that camping over behind the bridge might be quite good too. We had a break for morning tea, and then headed onwards.

At Marree we stopped to search for a cache (no luck) and for a loo stop, but got distracted by a Vista RV towed by a landcruiser and parked outside the pub. We were paying it so much attention and having so much discussion about it that the owner walked across, opened it up and showed off his recent $60,000 + addition. He is very happy with it, and they are certainly an interesting (if expensive) option. It is a relatively compact tow, and looks like it would go anywhere, with no canvas required.

 If we wanted to tow, this might be the expensive option for us. As we drove on we decided that we still take too many "not sure where this goes, but let's follow it" tracks that bring us rough driving or the need to reverse. Neither of these are good if you are towing. We agreed that for us, just a vehicle is the way to go, and the discussion continues over what exactly our best set up would be. We've already agreed that the present vehicle needs a lift if we keep it, and that long range fuel tanks are a must. We are starting to wonder about a twin cab ute with box on the back for the storage in a more organised fashion.

About 60 km down the track we popped in to Farina again for our lunch break. The bakery is now closed again till next year (no yummy hot food available) but the campground has beautiful rustic tables under lovely gum trees. The campsite is a large and attractive campsite with a donkey hot water heater for the showers. Alas, no stopping to heat the shower was to be had today. We ate our lunch together, then said a fond farewell to the Colwells who are heading in further to the Flinders today and need to get their skates on.

For Trev and I the next detour was a short track in to the lonely stones in a large cemetery. Maybe it was my melancholy mood, but almost quarter of the listed deaths were under 2 years of age, and this had me in tears. I know how hard it was back then and how difficult child birth could be and how far away health help could be, but the enormity of the pain that these people must have borne really overwhelmed me as I looked at that board and those lonely graves on this harsh, dry plain. What amazing and desperate people they were who came out here and make lives for themselves.

We drove on from Farina, aiming for a campsite on a PAR off of the Angorichina road in the Northern Flinders Ranges.

Then we were way laid by a trip in to Aroona dam, near Leigh Creek. We followed a road winding in between beautiful hills and picturesque gullies, with huge river gums for about 6 km to what appears to be a man made water supply dam for Leigh Creek. There were so many beautiful camping spots at the recreational spot that we were greatly tempted to break the rules and just camp here, but we eventually stopped our oohing and ahing and travelled onwards.

By the time we got to Lyndhurst it was starting to dawn on us that we were never going to negotiate a 4WD drive and find our intended campsite in daylight, so we picked Breakfast Time creek, and drove in for about 500m. There we parked in the creek, (something we know we should never do) with just the birds for company, made ourselves a little campfire, cooked ourselves dinner and boiled the billy, then sauntered off to our swags under yet another beautiful and crisp starry night.